4 fall ill after eating roach-infested food

HYDERABAD: In a bizarre medical case, a 55-year-old man, Mir

Hyder Ali

, and three other members of his family were diagnosed with cockroach-infested food disease at a hospital in the city, after repeated episodes of vomiting and nausea.


Mir, his wife Rizwana Sehzadi, 51, daughters, Seher Bano Fatima, 33, and Masoom Fatima, 31, fell ill after eating mutton

nihari

prepared at a local eatery in Darulshifa. On scanning the serving bowl, they found cockroaches in the food.

The incident took place on the night of July 18.

While the four were shifted to a local hospital, relatives and neighbours protested at the restaurant. A video of the kitchen and pantry area of the hotel, which showed dozens of cockroaches hovering around the ingredients, has now gone viral.

“Within an hour of consuming the food, my uncle, his two daughters and his wife complained of stomach pain and vomiting. This was followed by diarrhoea and dehydration. My uncle, who is a diabetic, started having rashes all over his body. The view inside the hotel’s kitchen was outright disgusting. It looked like a garbage dump with swarms of cockroaches,” said Mohammad Jaweed Ali, a relative. Despite complaints, the hotel staff refused to throw away the remaining Nihari, he added.

While Hyder Ali is still recovering from the episode and is under medication, setting this case as an example, doctors said that

cockroach infested food

can even cause severe and bloody diarrhoea and trigger

asthma

in the long run in many people.